Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-11-30
q gerial Sturp.
THE NINE OF HEARTS.
BY B. L. FARJEON.
PART THE THIRD.

PART THE THIRD.
Before the month was ended Mabel
showed him the diamond bracelet: but
her mother was aware that there were
other articles missing from among her
daughters jewelry.
Mrs. Rutland having come to the end OF
hel narrative, DR.. Daincourt began to
question her.
sYour daughter" he said, twas taken
i'll ON March 26, and understand that
she has been confined to her bed since that
day. Were there any premonitory symp-
toms Of o serious illness, or was the seiz-
ure sudden one?"
s'It was quite sudden" replied Mrs.
Rutland. "I went into her room early in
the morning and found her in high state
Of fever"
'tHas she been sensible at all since tina
tme?''
'sNo."
'.Not sufficiently sensible to recognize
any one who attended her?"
'sNo; she does not even know me, her
own mother"
"What did the physician whom you first
called in say about the case9'
'sHe said that she had brain fever, and
that it had been accelerated by her having
caught violent cold through wearing
damp clothing"
''Do you think she wore that clothing in
the house?''
"No."
Or. Daincourt has certain ways and
methods of his own. He is in the habit of
keeping in his pocketbook tablet of the
weather from day to day.
eff your daughter did not wear damp
clothes in the house." he said, "she must
have worn them out of the house."
He took his pocket book from his pocket
and consulted his weather tablet.
''I see," he said to Mrs. Rutland, "that
from the 18th to the 25th of March there
was no rain. The weather was mild and
unusually warm during those days, but
on the evening of the 25th Of March it be-
gan to rain, and rained during the night.
Your daughter must have been out during
those hours in the bad weather. What
were her movements on that evening?
Remember, you must keep nothing from
me if you wish me to do my best to re-
store your chnd 10 healtn.
Still, it was with some difficulty that
he extracted from Mrs. Rutland the infor-
nation that he desired to obtain. Obtain
it, however, he did. Mrs. Rutland in
formed him that Mabel had gone out on
the evening of the 25th of March, and did
not return home until nearly O'Clock in
the morning. Mr.. Rutland was not aware
of this. Mrs. Rutland had stopped up for
her daughter, and had let her in quietly
and secretly. The young girl was pale
and greatly agitated, but she said nothing
20 her mother. She kissed her hurriedly,
went to her bedroom, and was found the
next morning in the condition Mrs. Rut-
land had described.
'sBeing in fever from that day." said
DR.. Daincourt to the mother, ''your daugh-
ter has seen no newspapers"
s'No."
"And she is ignorant of the peril
through which her former lover, Edward
Layton, has passed, and in which he still
stands?"
"She is ignorant of it," said Mrs. Rut-
land.
"Haye any letters arrived for her dur
ing her ilnesss'
Eyes, two. One in the handwriting Of
Mr.. Layton, the other from my dear boy
EuStace."
"Have you those letters?"
ssYes.n
"Have you opened them?"
''No. My daughter made me give her
solemn promise that would never open
one Of her letters, and have not done
3d."
'But," said DR.. Daincourt, "this is O
matter of life and death. must ask you
to give me those letters, and I will take
upon myself the responsibility Of opening
them. 1 must ask you for something
more. Your daughter has desk?"
eyes"
"The key Of which is in her rooms'
Eyes"
"Bring down the desk and the key.
Ask me no questions concerning my mo-
tives. am in hopes that shall be able
to discover the true cause of your daugh-
ter's illness, and that will enable me to
adopt toward her the only treat
ment by which it is possible she can re-
cover"
Mrs. Rutland brought down the desk
and the key. In the mothers presence
DR.. Daincourt opened the desk. There
were in it no letters from Edward Layton,
but it contained two Of what Mrs. Rut-
land called the mystery letters which
Eustace was in the habit Of writing to his
sister. These letters were in their en-
velopes, the post marks upon which indi-
Gated their order of delivery.
DR.. Daincourt could make nothing Of
them, and Mrs. Rutland could not assist
him. They were written upon small single
sheets of note papery and appeared to be
perfect tumble of incomprehensiblew words.
Around the margin of these words were
number Of figures and alphabetical letters
as incomprehensible as themselves.
Searching further in the desk, he made u
startling discovery-three playing cards,
each of them being the nine of hearts. He
asked Mrs. Rutland-who appeared to be
almost as startled as he was himself by
the discovery-whether she could give
him any explanation of the cards. and she
said that she could not. Then Dr. Dain-
court said that he would take the
playing cards and the letters away with
him.
cat the same time" he observed to
Mrs. Rutland, ''if it is any consolation to
you, undertake your daughters case and
will do the best for her that lies within
my skill and power"
He then went to see Miss Rutland in
her bed, wrote out u prescription, gave
certain instructions and then left the
house.
II have come to you," said DR.. Dain
court to me, with these letters and the
playing cards; / will leave them with
you. You said that the nine of hearts
was q tangible link in the chain of Ed
ward Layton's innocence. Is it not most
mysterious and strange that three of these
identical cards should be found in Miss
Rutland's desk and that one should be
found in the pocket of Edward Layton's
ulster which he wore on the 25th of
March? Does not this circumstance,
in connection with what you now know
of Mabel Rutland's movements on that
night, 60 far to prove hat the lady whom
Edward Layton met in Bloomsbury square
was none other than his old sweetheart
Heaven knows what conclusions are to be
drawn from the coincidence will make